Peter Slipper (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Infrastructure in Queensland is very important, and conservative governments in Queensland provided that infrastructure. Unfortunately, the state Labor government with respect to infrastructure has not really being anywhere near as good as it could be.

I spoke at the commencement of my speech about the Kawana hospital. Kawana, a state electorate which had the temerity to vote for the Liberal National Party at the recent state election, has been penalised as an area because they did not vote for the incumbent Labor government. Right across the Sunshine Coast, which was virtually a clean sweep for the Liberal National Party, we are suffering because we did not vote for the incumbent Labor government. The incumbent Labor government has entirely squandered the economic security and economic benefits that it inherited, and we now have a situation where the Sunshine Coast Hospital at Kawana fiasco is simply one of a mounting list of problems that have festered under the current state Labor government.

It has been put to me, including by the member for Lyons, that these matters can be blamed on the challenging economic times. But the reality is that our problems do not stretch from the economic crisis; they really stem from Labor’s complete and utter inability to manage money. Of course, it is the rest of us, and our children, our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren and beyond, who will have to carry this serious and unacceptable burden.

I am someone who tries to give credit where credit is due. I am not saying that just because someone happens to be on the conservative side of politics they are a person who is worthy of support. I have seen Labor governments that have been good—not many, mind you—and I have seen Labor governments that have been bad. I have seen conservative governments that have been good and some that have dropped the ball. But in Queensland, with the Bligh Labor government, we have a government that no-one could defend as having any solution to the global economic crisis, and the reason that Queensland is suffering so badly and that we are not getting the health infrastructure that we should on the Sunshine Coast is that the state Labor government has indicated that it is totally, completely and absolutely unable to manage money. That is really sad for the people on the Sunshine Coast.

The Sunshine Coast is barely an hour’s drive north of Brisbane. We have got 260,000 people; we will have 500,000 people in 10 to 15 years time. We are a diverse community. It is a much nicer than the Gold Coast. We are the area where you would like to bring up your children. The area stretches from Noosa to Caloundra. We have got every possible sort of community. We have got five-star tourist resorts and we have got places where families can go and have holidays. It is an absolutely tremendous area, and I would recommend that any honourable member who has the time visit the Sunshine Coast, because it is an absolutely wonderful place to be. But, as the population grows, we need infrastructure. The fact that, at the state election, people on the Sunshine Coast chose to vote for the Liberal National Party ought not to be a reason to deprive us of health infrastructure, particularly the Kawana hospital. It is completely unacceptable, and I condemn the Bligh Labor government.

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